Life's a Piece of Cake

Man, I tell you...ever since that show The Cake Boss premiered on TLC it's been an endless stream of the same lines.  Day in and day out I hear, "Oh my god, do you know you look exactly like that guy on the show The Cake Boss?" and "Hey, you look like that guy Buddy from TV!"  What can I say in response?  The clich é, "Yeah, I get that a lot."  At first I took it as kind of an insult.  Who wants to be the fat Italian yelling all the time while making cakes?  Then the more I thought about it the more it became somewhat of a compliment.  This guy does some amazing work.  So hey...if I can use the pick up line, "The Cake Boss is sweet on you" at a bar and get away with it I am all for it.  Besides, I guess I can see the similarities...a hefty Italian who works in a bakery.  Did I mention that?  Guess it slipped my mind.  I'm the guy behind the Stop & Shop counter making all those fattening creations for you at a whopping $1.99 a piece.  Not as glitzy as the bakery on TV, but it's a living.  This is my baking life and I am Lil' Buddy.

September 7, 2010:

The bakery has simmered down after the chaotic sales we had over Labor Day weekend.  All the product is on the shelves.  The Italian bread is in the oven crisping as I type.  The other oven is set to 400 degrees for approximately 8 more minutes as the chocolate chip cookies brown.  Cupcakes line the table.  This is my favorite part of the job.  Down time is the prime time for creativity.  New products are developed that intrigue the masses and even more intriguing is the team of bake shop employees trying to plan how to price said products.  Technically we aren't supposed to come up with new creations.  We are a by-the-box fakery (sorry to ruin the Disney-esque magic kiddies, but most of the stuff from a supermarket bakery arrives frozen in boxes now from all over the country...a shame that we have been trying to hide).  Yet, at this store I am allowed free range of creativity.  In the past I have developed simple snacks, such as two cookies filled with Bettercream ™ (a lesser fat whipped cream substitute), that have flown off the shelves at an astonishing rate; a rate that immediately put them on the shelves of every other store.  

 Today's Project:  Slider Cupcakes

Now I am sure many of you have seen the gigantic hamburger cakes that they have in most bakeries.  We have those too.  This was more of an intriguing idea that I developed for those who didn't want too much cake, but still have that same fun aspect.

A slider, for those who don't know, is a miniature hamburger.  Some restaurants use them as appetizers, but for big guys like me they are more of a challenge...how many can you fit in your mouth at once?  Anyways, back to the dessert.  A regular hamburger cake is two yellow 8 inch round cakes with frosting overloaded in the middle to give the effect of a hamburger slathered with lettuce, mustard, ketchup, etc.  A slider version is just that only smaller.  We take some freshly made yellow cupcakes, slice them about half way in the middle, then proceed to fill them with either chocolate frosting or a vanilla frosting dyed brown.  After the burger patty is made get some neon green frosting in a piping bag with a leaf tip.  Proceed to make 3 small little crinkled leaves like lettuce.  The messier the better.  Fill two more piping bags with red and brilliant yellow frosting for the ketchup and mustard.  Use a writing tip and slather them on as if it was a real burger.  Pop on the top.  Use a white writing tipped piping bag to make a few sesame seed dots and presto you have a slider cupcake.

On to the next.  Because we are a very busy store we often  have specialty cake orders that we have to do.  Today is simple we just have one quarter of a sheet cake with multiple colored roses.  Takes maybe a half an hour to do.

Man I wish this cake was for me instead of whatever schmuck is getting it.

The best part about slow days is creativity time.  A lot of the time I work on my free-hand drawing abilities.  I do silly designs and complex designs to work on my hand-eye coordination to make steadier lines when working on cakes.  It's a good practice to take a piece of parchment paper and just make designs.  From novice to expert everyone can use practice.  These are what came out:

There are the days that are hectic and the days that are slow, but that's the case with any job.  The only difference is my job is just playing with food all day.  

Stay Sweet,

Lil' Buddy